Structure of the day_The Great Stupa, Sanchi
India's best-preserved and most extensive Buddhist site......
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Dominating the Hill of Sanchi, India's best-preserved and most extensive Buddhist site, is the Great Stupa. Its hemispherical shape is believed to symbolize the upturned alms bowl of a Buddhist monk, or an umbrella of protection for followers of the Buddhist dharma (doctrine). The stupa's main glory lies in its four stone toranas (gateways), added in the 1st century BC. Their superb sculptures replicate the techniques of wood and ivory carving, and cover a rich variety of Buddhist themes.
BUDDHIST STUPA
India's earliest Buddhist monuments were stupas, large reliquaries in V'klich the ashes of the Buddha and other great teachers were interred. Solid throughout. the stupa itself is undecorated and designed to stimulate prayer and represent the path to divine understanding. As Indian traditions spread throughout Southeast Asia, the Buddhist stupa reached new heights of complex Buddhist symbolism. Borobodur Temple in Java, with its design and sculpture of the highest order, is probably the greatest monument of this architectural style.
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THE JATAKA TALES
The Buddha's past lives are retold in this large collection of fables, in wh1ch an animal or bird often takes the part of the Buddha. The fables had great religious, moral, social, and cultural significance.
The Great Stupa and its West Gateway
Enclosing a smaller brick stupa built by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC, the Great Swpa is capped by a three-tiered stone umbrella symbolizing the layers of heaven.
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Circumambulatory Paths
The paths have balustrades carved with medallions of flowers, birds, and animals, and the names of the donors who funded them.
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Vedika (Railings)
These are an impressive recreation in stone of a typical wooden railing design. They were the inspiration for the stone railings around Sansad Bhav an, or the Parliament House,inNewDelhi.
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Salabhanjika
Supporting the lcmest architrave of the East Gateway is a sensuous, voluptuous tree nymph, gracefully positioned under a mango tree
BUDDHISM'S ORIGINS AND PHILOSOPHY
The Buddha was born in 566 BC as Siddhartha Gautama, prince of Kapilavastu. Renouncing his princely life, he left his palace at the age of 30 to search for answers to the meaning of human existence and suffering. He spent six years liv ing with hermits, undertaking severe penances and fasts, but found these gave him no answers. Enlightenment finally came at Bodh Gay a, where, after meditating for 49 days under the Bodhi Tree, he discovered that the cause of suffering is desire; and that desire can be corquered by following the Eig-,tfold Path of Righteousness: Right Thouifit, Urderstand1ng, Speech, ts.ction_ livelihood, Effort, Concentration and Contemplation. The essence of the Buddha's teachings is non-violence and peace
EMPEROR ASHOKA
One of India's greatest rulers, Ashoka I[ 269232 BC) was the grandson of Chandragupta Maury a, who founded the country's first emp1re Tht> camagt> and misery brought about by Ashoka's bloody conquest of Kalinga (now Orissa) in 260 BC fillt>d him with remorse He gave ~ dig,tijaya (rmlitary conquest) for dharmavijaya (spiritua conquest), and became a great patron of Buddhism, bUilding many stupas, including the original brick stupa at Sanchi. Ashoka was a humane ruler whose edicts on rocks and pillars all over his vast empire record his ethical code of righteousness and nonviolence (ahimsa) He asked his officials to be impartial, just, and compassionate, and his subjects to respect others' religions, give to charity, and avoid the killing of animals
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